Skip to main content

Fort Royal Last Year

Councillor leads bid to restore historic park

A COUNCILLOR is spearheading an appeal to breathe new life into an historic Worcester park which is at the very heart of the city's rich Civil War history.
Coun Jabba Riaz has joined forces with the Battle of Worcester Society to campaign for major investment in Fort Royal Park off Wylds Lane, which has suffered in recent years due to a lack of investment.
The park is situated on one of the key sites of the Battle of Worcester in 1651 - Fort Royal Hill - where Royalist soldiers built a fort to defend the city from the attack of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians.
It is also the place where two former American Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson met in 1786 to look out over the city which they considered to be one of the key battlegrounds for democracy.
But despite its great history Fort Royal Park has missed out on the kind of investment which has seen other city parks like Gheluvelt and Cripplegate flourish. It has led to complaints from some residents that the park's entrance now looks like it has been bombed, while the ageing play area has also attracted criticism.
The concerns have prompted Coun Riaz to call on the city council to unite with bodies like English Heritage and restore the park to its former glory. Coun Riaz said: "Considering the well known reputation of the fort there has been a considerable lack of investment in the park over the years. Although it has been kept immaculately clean by the council wardens, signs of wear and tear are really showing. Most disappointingly the residents feel that there is no real symbol or monument to mark those that lost their lives so that we could enjoy freedom and democracy."
His sentiments were echoed by Ben Humphrey, from the Battle of Worcester Society, who is busy organising a series of high-profile activities to mark the 360th anniversary of the Battle of Worcester in September.
"The fact of the matter is two US presidents stood on top of Fort Royal Hill and looked out over Worcester because they felt it was the birthplace of democracy," he said. "The reason we all have a vote is strongly linked to the Battle of Worcester. It is a massive piece of our national heritage but we are not doing any where near enough to promote it."
Coun Roger Knight, deputy leader of the city council, confirmed Coun Riaz had been involved in discussions with the council about possible enhancements to Fort Royal Park.
"These are being considered together with a number of projects in other areas," he added.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keep Calm and Carry On?

A sad situation which has come to light over the last month. It is in relation to a TRO on London Road between St Martin’s Church on London Road and Wych Elm Close on London Road. I heard about this TRO in December last year. I immediately let the Warden of St Martin’s church know as well as the Rev Ken Boyce about the matter as they and their Congregation would be most affected by this. The historic Church and Hall of ST Martin’s is an integral part of our community where many users use the facilities for Worship, community activities such as Fitness activities, Playgroups and meetings, parties as well as the traditional marriage ceremonies, christenings and funerals. The use of on street parking is vital to the Church and its success. The TRO proposed would effectively cause residents and Church users alike to park in already congested side streets like Victoria Avenue & Sebright Avenue or much further away, thus causing the same issues further along the road. The T...
2 comments
Read more

Fort Royal Update

I am bitterly disappointed at not getting the HLF bid, however am now optimistic that the original plans of improving the play area and the entrance to the park will now get done quicker something the residents have always wanted as a key priority. Worcester Standard Article AMBITIOUS plans to breathe new life into an historic city park have suffered a setback after it emerged the project had failed in its bid to secure £1million in lottery funding. Worcester City Council had hoped to win the backing of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help cover the cost of a major overhaul of Fort Royal Park on Wylds Lane which stands on one of the key sites of the English Civil War. But the council and its partners were disappointed to discover the bid had failed and they must now decide what parts of the project can still be pursued. The council has already pledged £200,000 from its own budget towards improvements to the park to help celebrate its great historical significa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Royal Porcelain- Abandoned Building and Gulls

    The site of the former Porcelain Factory was once a proud heritage asset for our city, sold of years ago to a national builder Berkley Homes.   To one side it is occupied and to the other you could be forgiven to think that it was an abandoned haunted house in the woods which time has forgotten. Over time rats/Gulls and Pigeons have taken over the building causing a huge nuisance to the local residents the roof collapsed and some action was taken to board up the windows. Residents have contacted us and we have taken action – We have been in contact with enforcement officers to ask them to serve notice on the developer to put new windows in and to restore it to its former glory. We have also been in contact with Gull control officers to ask them to implement gull control measures in the area. Developers must be held to account and not just scarper from a site once they have made their money.   We will be writing to the developer to express our concer...
Post a Comment
Read more